SEOUL, Oct 16 — South Korea’s military yesterday dismissed Pyongyang’s doubts over Seoul’s homegrown hypersonic missile launch, as the two Koreas appear to be intensifying an arms race over the high-tech weapons.

Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them significantly harder to track and intercept.

Days after North Korea announced it tested an intermediate-range hypersonic missile that involved the use of AI, Seoul earlier this month test-fired its own weapon—calling it a “key strategic asset capable of changing the course of the battlefield”.

Yesterday North Korea raised doubts over Seoul’s launch, saying images released by South Korea “may serve as evidence proving” the weapon “failed to make a hypersonic flight”.